The SHIELD TV has a pretty long list of features to its name. Of course, it can do everything a normal Android TV box can do, but it can also act as a Plex server, a Samsung SmartThings Hub, and even a gaming console with NVIDIA's GeForce Now cloud gaming service.

Teslagrad was announced for Android back in September. At the time it was only available on the Play Store for pre-registration, and a release date was unknown. As of today the indie 2D Metroidvania is available for purchase. You can snag a copy right now for $4.89, which is a 30% discount off the planned retail price.

If you are unfamiliar with Teslagrad, then let me fill you in. It is a fantastic indie Metroidvania game filled with plenty of puzzles and platforming.

Nvidia continues to improve the Shield TV experience, now offering users another way to control their Android TV box. Assistant support has been around for a little while now, but Alexa is joining the party thanks to a new skill. Simply activate said skill, link your Nvidia account, and you can start controlling your Shield with your Echo or other Alexa devices.

Alexa can control things like power, volume, media playback, and navigation.

Nvidia's Shield TV is perhaps one of the best supported devices in recent memory. The original unit from 2015 and its refreshed sibling from 2017 are both getting another software update, starting today. Shield TV Software Experience 7.1 has an impressive changelog, full of new stuff and improvements.

Here's a quick rundown of what Nvidia says is included with Software Experience 7.1:

In-game voice chat support – for communicating in top GeForce NOW games like Fortnite – with headsets connected to the 3.5mm headset jack on SHIELD controllers

Probably the only Android TV box worth consistent attention is the Nvidia Shield TV, which does just about everything the right way. It comes with a handy physical remote, but still, some users have called for a mobile app. Nvidia is finally giving them what they want.

The Shield TV app is currently labeled 'unreleased' and is being tested by Nvidia ahead of a formal unveiling. It includes several virtual tools, such as remote buttons, a mousepad, and a keyboard.

Despite how much I love my Shield TV and how often we use it in my household for streaming videos and playing games, I can't help but scratch my head a little at what NVIDIA is doing here. The company is rehashing its streaming box for the umpteenth time with another bundle and no price incentive to make anyone want to jump on board.

The new 2017 Shield TV, which was more or less a rehashed version of the older one, already comes in three versions: a $299 Pro with 500GB of storage and some hardware enhancements, a $179 16GB version with just the remote, and a $199 16GB with the remote and the game controller.

NVIDIA started rolling out the Android 8.0 Oreo update to its SHIELD TV last week, and with it came the new launcher, the latest security updates, plenty of improvements, but also "a couple of issues." That's why NVIDIA is halting the update until it can fix things and resume the rollout.

The news was announced by a tech support rep on the GeForce forums. Here is his statement:

Hi All

We’ve uncovered a couple issues thanks to feedback from our preview program that we’d like to fix prior to rolling out SHIELD TV Experience Upgrade 7.0 to more users.

Shield TV owners, rejoice! Starting today, Nvidia is pushing out the Oreo OTA update to our favorite Android TV box. Along with the latest version of Android, you'll get a whole host of additional features, including an all new UI. Exciting times, indeed.

Shield Experience Upgrade 7.0 (not to be confused with the Android version, 8.0) overhauls the main screen, bringing your apps, shows, music, and games all front and center.

Since the Nvidia SHIELD TV added Google Assistant support last year, it's been slowly catching up with other Assistant-enabled devices by adding new functionality. It looks like a couple more capabilities are now available. At least we think so, as Assistant features across different devices are so inconsistent that it's sometimes hard to tell what's new and what's not.

According to Nvidia, broadcasting messages and the ability to summon your security camera stream on your TV via the Assistant are both new additions.

Android TV is very much alive, as was made abundantly clear by the plethora of new Android TV powered televisions with Google Assistant capability shown off at CES 2018. Streaming boxes powered by Android TV, however, are conspicuously missing—the last Android TV set-top box to be released in the United States was the Xiaomi Mi Box in October 2016.

Apple TV and Amazon's Fire TV products both received hardware refreshes last September, while Roku products received hardware refreshes in October.